Do movie reviews affect your movie-going decisions?

Some of the stuff on the last movie you watched thread prompted me to wonder: When you're deciding what movie to see, how much weight do you give movie reviews?

Personally, I don't read them. Used to, but there came a point where they all started to sound alike, and it was overwhelmingly negative. I know what I like. When the subject matter piques my interest, I'll go see the movie.

 

Contrary to what my posts say about me, I don't read reviews. I went and found those because I knew OFTM was getting CRUSHED. I wish I didn't think the preview looked like shit, I wish it hadn't gotten terrible reviews, and I wish they hadn't cast Katherine Heigl. Because I WANT to love the movie, but I'm afraid I'm so against it right now that I won't, no matter how good it may surprisingly be.

So...I don't read them, usually until after the fact if at all.

 

I have Rotten Tomatoes bookmarked, and chances are I'll take a quick look at the rating before going to see a movie. But it would seldom influence whether I go see what I want.

 

Big RT'er here. With 2 little ones, when I actually get time to see a movie, it'd better not suck. In fact, it needs to be mind-blowing.

Ides of March blew my mind... Loved Moneyball...

The Descendants? Eh.. Could've waited a year. That's how picky I've had to become.

 

Share this philosophy. Have saved an incredible amount of money avoiding crap produced by yahoos and simpletons. Like anything else, takes years to learn, but it's most-worthwhile.

 

If they critics hate it...I'll love it, and vice versa.

 

With certain filmmakers, you know exactly what kind of crap you're going to get. And you already know whose work you respond to and don't.

 

I don't go to the theater much anymore, unless it's with a bunch of friends, and then it's either for social reasons and I don't really care what we're seeing, or it's a big "event" movie and it wouldn't have mattered if the reviews were trash. It's gotten to the point where, unless there's something about the visual presentation the big screen really shows off, I get a better experience at home.

I do a lot of renting, and reviews effect a lot which movies I tend to seek out.

 

Depends on the critic.

 

Reviews are vital for me in deciding what to seek out and what not to seek out. Not necessarily just the RT rating, either, but what the reviewers are actually saying about a movie and what works and what doesn't. Sometimes, bad reviews will even inspire me to see a movie I wouldn't have seen as quickly - for example, a departure by a director or actor. Curiosity gets me.

I have to be somewhat careful because of the spoiler factor, though.

I find that the Filmspotting show on NPR guides me in the right direction.

If anything, for the most part, I think critics are far too soft on movies as a group.

 

This is pretty much how I feel (without the kids, though). If I'm going to spend the money on seeing something in the theater, then I better know there's a good chance that it will be fantastic. Those that I'm in the air about, I will usually just wait and see them when they're out on DVD.

 

I always check RT, but I care less about the reviews with certain types of movies. If it's a lowbrow comedy with a lot of nudity, cursing, and vulgarity, I'm going to assume that the reviews aren't going to be absolutely stellar. That doesn't mean it's not going to make me laugh my ass off.